Colony

[Ondrej Prosicky]

Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus), Ondřej Prosický | NaturePhoto.cz, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 17-40 mm f/4 L USM (PL Hoya), 17 mm, f/16, 1/30 s, ISO: 50, - 1 1/3 EV, Blesk: Ne, January 26, 2009 134:46, Carcass Island (Falkland Islands)

Falkland Gallery

Ondřej Prosický | NaturePhoto.cz

[Randy Stout]

Ondrej:

Eye catching image, with lots of detail and interest. It gives a good sense of the environment there. The dead log adds to the sense of bleakness.
I like the combination of gulls in the air and on the ground.

The sky seems oversaturated. Was a polarizer used? I have mixed feelings about the one very blurry gull in LUC. Might try a version without that one. A faster shutter speed would have helped here, and you had lots of ISO to play with.

Thanks for sharing.

Randy

[Ondrej Prosicky]

Yes, I used polarizer, I like it.
Moving wings is intention, that is why.

[Tony Whitehead]

I like this, Ondrej. As usual Randy has beaten me to to it. The blurred gull was my only comment. It may be interesting to try a version without it and possibly also without the sharp one nearer the upper middle frame as without them the dark V of dead space may be an interesting compositional element.

[Jim Fenton]

I really like the images as a whole and agree with Randy and Tony that the blurred gull was too much of a distraction...I like Tony's re post.

Personally, I think the deep blue adds substantially to the bleakness of the landscape.

[Brian Barcelos]

I agree with whats been said already. Still a very different and interesting image. Very nice.

Brian

[paul leverington]

Overall I like the composition Ondrej. The polarizer use is Ok here, but for me definitely you dialed in too much. The blue is off the charts and doesn't register at all as natural--but that may have not been your goal .

Paul

[Ramon M. Casares]

I would have gone or with a higer ISO or tried to get a lower SS to get the birds in flight more blurred :) But I love the ending result. Great comp, scene and place!! It is my dram to visit the Falklands! Congratulations!

[David Thomasson]

I agree with others about the blue being too much, but aside from that, this image has an eerie "other worldly" feel that I like very much.

Were it mine, in addition to toning down the blue, I would darken the foreground and brighten the mountains a little. Also, rotate birds on
the left to create a stronger sense of divergence between left and right. The birds on the right are flying out of the frame on that side. I would
make those on the left do the same. Like this:



Animated gif (430kk):



All subjective, of course, but these suggestions might trigger some ideas.

[Jasper Doest]

I love the use of slow shutterspeed here..excellent thinking. Perhaps I'd go even further as Ramon suggests, but I like the idea. However I think the polarizer is a bit too much as the sky got really really dark. And please keep the blurred gull in the photograph as it is an essential ellement to this photograph. Very very nice...

[Jasper Doest]

Also, rotate birds on
the left to create a stronger sense of divergence between left and right. The birds on the right are flying out of the frame on that side. I would make those on the left do the same.

Although I agree with David that with the birds flying in another direction it would be stronger....this editing goes way beyond nature photography for me. And the edited version of David is 100% impossible, as the light on the heads is from the wrong direction.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

As Randy noted this is an eye catching image, perhaps is because I love blue skies! But I have to agree that the blue is too intense and don't look natural. The blurred birds add life to the image in my opinion but I wouldn't move the direction they are going, just my two cents.

[Daniel Belasco]

Love the reposts. They just kept getting better and better. Liked the removal of the blurred gulls.